Our Mission A Future for Erica - Sacred Portionsacredportion.org/uploads/SPCO Newsletter vol. 35 minimized.pdf · commandments which thou has commanded me...I have listened to the

THE SACRED PORTION

CHILDREN’S OUTREACH

A Child Caring Ministry

“And you...shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your god has given you and your household. And you...shall say before the

Lord your God. I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and have given it to...the orphan according to all thy

commandments which thou has commanded me...I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God.”

Deuteronomy 26: 11, 12, & 14

The Sacred Portion Children’s

Outreach is a non-profit

organization dedicated to

providing for the needy

children of the world who are

without homes or families.

We seek to provide better

environments for children

living in orphanages and to

ultimately move them on to

brighter futures through

adoption. The Sacred Portion

Children’s Outreach relies on

contributions from individual,

businesses and corporations

in order to carry out its

mission.

If you would prefer to

receive our newsletters

through email, please

notify us by sending a

message to: info@sacred

portion.org. Thank you.

Our Mission A Future for Erica By Jan Druckenmiller

Fall 2015

Fourteen years old, turning

15 in December. Three

years until she reaches the

age of 18, the hallmark of

young adulthood and

independence. The

question raises - do we still

try to find a family for this

girl quickly becoming

woman? The time of

active parenting would

be so short. Would she

bond and attach to a

f a m i l y w h e n h e r

adolescent stage of

development is more

poised towards becoming

her own person? Should

we focus instead on

preparing her to assimilate

into her own culture, help

her receive an education,

find employment, and

become a productive

citizen. Yes, that could happen with proper guidance and mentoring.

But then we would be ignoring the fundamental need that she, like all

of us, has to belong to a family. The need for ties that go deeper than

friendship and assure us of absolute loyalty, protection and security. I

tried to picture Erica working at an SM Department Store in Manila and

riding a jeepney home at the end of the day, but to what and to

whom? It felt like leaving her in a void. Causing her to be vulnerable in

a culture where young women are often taken advantage of. If there

was still a chance of her being adopted, I wanted to pursue it.

Continued on page 2

2

I first met Erica when she came in

to the Rehoboth Children’s Home

in November 2011 at the age of

eleven. Erica had been living with

her aunt and uncle after the

death of her mother from

tuberculosis in 2010. She had lived

with this same aunt and uncle for

a period of time as a younger

child when her mother was

unemployed and looking for work.

Prior to her admission into

Rehoboth, Erica had been found

on the premises of a local learning

center by the volunteers working

there. She had left her aunt and

uncle’s home and refused to go

back.

After substantial investigation into

Erica’s circumstances, it was

determined that an alternative

plan would need to be made for

her future. It took more than two

years for the paperwork to course

through the proper channels but

Erica was eventually legally

cleared for adoption in March of

2014. Given her age, she was

immediately placed on the

Intercountry Adoption Board’s

special home finding list. This

meant that her profile would be

shared with adoption agencies all

over the world. Months went

by and there was no action in

terms of a family expressing

interest in Erica. I began to

panic as December and yet

another birthday approached.

I contacted the Intercountry

Adoption Board about possibly

allowing Erica to go for hosting

to our program in Gillette,

Wyoming. ICAB consented.

Erica and a girl of similar age

from another orphanage in the

Philippines traveled to Gillette

at the end of February and

spent the month of March

experiencing Wyoming winter.

Erica’s host family had made it

possible for her to come on the

hosting program but they,

themselves, did not have

intention of adopting. Instead,

they advocated for Erica and

she was introduced to Brad

and Tara Reed and their

children. Erica spent a lot of

time with the Reed family

during her stay in Gillette. By

the end of the four weeks,

Erica’s sweet and gentle

personality had won their

hearts and they were eager to

move forward with adoption.

They completed their paperwork

in record time and were

approved by the Intercountry

Adoption Board as an adoptive

family for Erica on August 20,

2015.

When I traveled to the Philippines

in early September, I hand carried

with me the photo album that

Erica’s adoptive family had

prepared for her. This was

presented to her in the privacy of

the Missionary House, away from

the daily hustle and bustle of the

Children’s Home. As the album

was handed to Erica, I watched

her eyes light up in recognition of

the Reed family. One of the

Rehoboth staff read through the

album with Erica explaining the

photos and, as they progressed

through the book, I could see joy

and relief spreading over her

face.

Skype sessions have been

arranged for once a week with

Erica’s adoptive family as they

wait for immigration paperwork to

be c ompl et ed a nd t he

procurement of Erica’s visa, all of

which will take several months.

Erica seems very comfortable

conversing with her adoptive

family which we are glad to see

given her quiet nature.

Once she is home with her

adoptive family, Erica will need to

continue to catch up with her

education as she had never been

to school when she first came to

Rehoboth at the age of eleven.

She also was a Visayan speaker

rather than Tagalog, the

Philippine national language,

which put her at a disadvantage

when she started participating in

the educational programs at

Rehoboth.

Education will be but one of

many challenges as Erica settles

into life in a different culture and

learns to be part of a family. But

we believe that this sweet and

gentle spirited young woman will

thrive in her new family and are

so grateful that she has a set of

loving parents and siblings to

provide her with connection and

a future of hope and healing.

3

4

2nd Annual

Giving Hope to Orphans Art Auction A fundraising event for

The Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach

Friday, November 6

7:00 to 9:00 pm

Springhill Presbyterian Church

(in-town location) 4769 W. Babcock Bozeman, MT

Featuring original art by orphans, adoptees, and

locally known artists

Heavy hors d’oeuvres & wine

$25 per ticket

Make your reservation online

by going to:

www.sacredportion.org

or call 586-5773 for tickets.

5

Sneak Preview

Nothing’s been matted and framed yet but we have some wonderful pieces

of kids’ art using a variety of media. We’re anticipating some great pieces

from local artists as well. Don’t miss out!

Great News!

The Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach recently completed our

Hague re-accreditation and passed with flying colors!

Hague accreditation means that, as an agency, we have met stringent standards intended to

protect children, birth parents, adoptive parents, and to prevent child trafficking and other

abuse in the adoption world. Hague accreditation must be renewed every four years. Given

that our current accreditation expires in January 2016, we had to begin the nine month long self-

study process in February of 2015 which included uploading 118 different documents related to

the Hague standards to an online portal! Two evaluators came to Bozeman at the end of August

for a two day site visit to verify our compliance with the Hague standards.

Following the site visit, the agency typically receives a pre-commission report

detailing items that were rated as not being in full compliance and would be

given 30 days to submit evidence of corrections made to bring its policies and

procedures into compliance. Apparently we had nothing to fix as we received

notice of our Hague re-accreditation approval just three weeks after our site visit!

A sincere thank you to both the Gilhousen Family Foundation and the Gianforte

Family Foundation for providing us with grant funds to cover the cost of Hague

reaccreditation. We are good for another four years!

More Good News!

The Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach received our

re-authorization as a placing agency with the

Intercountry Adoption Board of the Philippines!

As one of the Intercountry Adoption Board’s foreign adoption partners, we are able to

place children from the Philippines for adoption under the authorization of this entity.

Just like Hague accreditation, this authorization has to be renewed every three years.

Two ICAB representatives from the Philippines were in Bozeman from September 27 to

September 30 to visit the Sacred Portion office and review our adoption program. This

included Bernadette Abejo, the Executive

Director of the Intercountry Adoption Board,

and Teresa Nuqui, Executive Director of Norfil

Foundation and ICAB board member. In

addition to conducting their review, these

ladies experienced eating at Ted’s Montana

Grill, received a tour of Yellowstone National

Park and enjoyed a dinner with some of our

families who have adopted children from the

Philippines. Our very own Fe Phillips from the

Rehoboth Children’s Home helped us with

entertaining these important guests!

6

To have representatives from

the Intercountry Adoption

Board of the Philippines come

to Bozeman, MT to do a re-

authorization visit is huge. We

had been anticipating this

since the first of the year but

weren’t sure when it would be

happening exactly. As it

turned out, the ICAB visit got

scheduled for September after

I had already made my airline

reservation to go to the

Philippines. My husband,

Craig, our Sacred Portion staff

and Fe Phillips who is here on

sabbatical from the Rehoboth

Children’s Home all jumped in

to handle the visit in my

absence. We were a little

panicked as to what to do

with these ladies for three

days! Day One was spent at

the SPCO office discussing the

Philippine adoption process,

the summer hosting program,

post placement supervision

and issues surrounding the

adoption of older children.

Lunch that day was at Ted’s

Montana Grill, a chance to

experience buffalo! On Day

Two, Craig and Fe took

Director Abejo and Ms. Nuqui

to Yellowstone National Park

which they marveled at and

thoroughly enjoyed. Day

Three was spend at our house

cooking Filipino food for an

evening dinner with families

who have adopted children

from the Philippines. Life is full

of strange ironies. Craig sent

me pictures and I could hardly

wrap my head around the

fact the Director Abejo, a high

ranking official who oversees

the Philippine’s international

adoption program was there

cooking in my kitchen in

Bozeman, Montana while I am

here in the Philippines!

Fe, Director Abejo and Teresa

Nuqui shopping for food for

the dinner with the adoptive

families.

Cooking away in my kitchen

while I am in the Philippines!

Adopted kids and families

having dinner at our house.

Taking in the geothermal

features of Yellowstone Park.

7

Fe enjoying Yellowstone Park.

8

SUMMER, FALL, WINTER

OF HOPE

Helping Children Find Families Any Time of Year!

The Summer of Hope program has

evolved into other seasons of the

year, and not necessarily by

design. In December of 2013, we

held our first ever Christmas of

Hope program with a group of

children from Colombia. It was

lovely to bring children to

experience Christmas with an

American family. Our plan was to

bring a few children from the

Philippines in December of 2014

with the same idea in mind.

However, the program got

delayed for various reasons and

the children ended up coming

towards the end of February and

staying through March. Even

though the time was off from what

the target had been, we still found

several families to host.

A group of five children from the

Philippines were scheduled to go

to Gillette, Wyoming for Summer of

Hope 2015. However, the

program was again delayed. This

time due to a glitch within the US

Department of State’s computer

system that caused a backlog of

visa processing in its overseas

e m b a s s i e s i n c l u d i n g t h e

Philippines. Thankfully, the families

who were lined up to host still

wanted to do so even though it

appeared that the children

wouldn't come until after the end

of the summer and when school

was back in session. The children

did finally get their visas and

arrived in Gillette on September

15. Although summer is certainly

the ideal time for hosting, if we

have the opportunity to find

families for children, we are happy

to have them come any time of

the year!

The “Fall of Hope” host families and children visited the Devil’s

Tower National Monument in northeastern Wyoming. Haley

Gray, our coordinator in Gillette, relayed that two of the boys,

Jhaylord and Elmejhon, did not like it that they were going

somewhere called Devil’s Tower and Elmejhon asked if God

made it or man. The adults responded that God made it and

Jaylord decided they were going to call it “Jesus Tower”

instead of Devil’s Tower!

“Fall of Hope” Host Families & Children

in Gillette, Wyoming

Jacob & Jessica Foutch are

hosting sisters, Rosemarie,

age 12, and Baby Rose, age

9.

Russell & Devon Hallcroft are hosting Elmejhon, age 12.

Damon & Melody Cain are hosting Dodong, age 8.

Todd & Marcy Bowling are

hosting Jhaylord, age 12.

9

If you would like

information on any of

these children, contact

us at

(406) 586-5773.

Still Summer Enough to

Float & Fish!

10

We are in the final

stretch of finishing

Bonnie’s Heart

Baby Home! We

have had starts

and stops, doing

the amount of

finishing we were

able with funds that

have come in for

that purpose. We

believe this last gift

of funding received

is finally going to do

it! Windows and doors are in, tile is laid, cabinets are built and

lights installed. We anticipate the space will be ready for

occupancy in the next few weeks. We will be informing the local

Department of Social Welfare and Development that we are now

able to take an additional 12 children between the ages of 0 and

3. We are so grateful for this beautiful space, perfectly designed for

infants and toddlers and for all of the generous people who made it

possible.

11

Would you like to sponsor Sebastian or Fionna? These are our two

newest children at Rehoboth and they are in need of sponsors.

As a child sponsor, you will

receive a progress report on

your sponsored child twice a

year, the monthly on-line

newsletter for the Rehoboth

Children’s Home and

occasional photos and

updates of activities at

Rehoboth, especially when we

celebrate your sponsored

child’s birthday!

We Need Your Ongoing Support

Of course, more children means more staff, more food, more medicine and doctor’s visits, etc.

We are inviting you to be an ongoing part of Bonnie’s Heart Baby Home by becoming a monthly

supporter of this good work. You can do this either by sponsoring one of the babies or toddlers for

$35 per month or by just giving a monthly donation to the Baby Home’s operating fund.

To become a child sponsor, send us an email at [email protected] or call (406) 586-5773. As

a child sponsor or general supporter, you can easily set up a convenient, automatic monthly

payment through our Paypal account or through DonateQ. We can give you more information

about either one of these options.

Willy, one of our faithful workers,

building cabinets inside the Baby

Home. Willy is the father of Eric

who has supervised all of the

construction at Rehoboth.

The Final Finish

The Rehoboth Children’s Home has a continual stream of

visitors from overseas who come as volunteers to help out in

various ways. The children are greatly blessed by these visits,

not only in having the extra attention but the opportunity for

some special fun and recreation. Trips to Jollibee and

swimming outings are the standard. But recently we took a

group of the younger boys to a place in the SM mall called

Kidzoona. Visitors from Australia treated the children to an

hour of fun that included a ball pit with slides, jumping house

and other very energized, exciting activities. On a calmer

note, the children also enjoyed the interactive imaginary play

areas that included a fire station, hospital, ice cream parlor,

sushi shop, vegetable market and flower shop with costumes to

dress up in and lots of plastic foods and other props.

12

Return of an artist….. Sandi Van Middendorp, Bozeman area artist, left her signature on the walls

of the Rehoboth Children’s Home when she joined us there in 2002 prior to

the opening of the original facility. Sandi added touches of cuteness and

creativity to the freshly painted walls of the children’s bedrooms as well as

the preschool room but, most

importantly, painted the

meaning of Rehoboth from

Genesis 26:22 onto the living

room walls.

After 13 years, Sandi returned to

Rehoboth in September 2015 to

work with the children on producing art for our upcoming

Giving Hope to Orphans art auction in November. In

between conducting art sessions with the kids, Sandi grabbed a brush and paint and once again

added her creative touch to the walls of the large play room in the new Baby Home. A forest of

bamboo and cute animals has livened up this space much to the delight of the toddlers. Thanks

Sandi! We are blessed by your talent.

13

The Sacred Portion Children’s

Outreach partners with FACES

(formerly Encompass) to provide

support services to adoptive and foster

care families in our community. We

plan to continue these services for the

2015/2016 school year.

Kids’ Night Out is a respite event that is

offered on a quarterly basis. Parents

can drop their kids at the Commons at 1794 Baxter Lane East for an evening of fun while they

take some time for themselves to relax, have a date with their spouse, or enjoy some quiet time at

home. The children are served pizza and snacks, play games, do crafts and watch a movie

towards the end of the evening. The volunteers who help with Kids’ Night Out are a mix of

mature adults and college youth and have undergone background screening prior to

volunteering. The volunteers are consistent throughout the year and form positive relationships

with the kids. Parents and children alike look forward to this event which is offered at no cost to

the families.

If you would like to get on the list to receive email invitations and reminders about Kids’ Night Out,

please send us a message at [email protected] or call 586-5773.

14

EMBRACE FAMILIES is a monthly support gathering for

those who are on the adoption or foster care journey.

This event takes place on the second Thursday of every

month from 6:00 to 7:30 at the Commons, 1794 Baxter

Lane East. Dinner, which is at no cost to the families, is

served starting at 6:00 pm. At 6:30 adults and youth go

to their respective groups which last for one hour.

Steve Wellington, LCSW, facilitates the session for adults

which is a combination of information giving and

sharing. Monthly topics are planned that are relevant to

parenting adoptive or foster care children. Steve spends the first part of the session providing

psycho-educational material that can be useful to parenting and then discussion ensues around

the topic or other concerns that parents might have at the time. The teen support group is

composed of teen adoptees/foster children and teen siblings and is facilitated by licensed

counselors, KC McClaughlin and Donna Kelsch. The same topic for the adult support session is

carried over to the teen support group at a level and format that is appropriate to their age and

their issues. The elementary age children have a creative art session with Mary Gammill and the

children under age five are provided a play time with child care staff.

Embrace Families provides something for everyone and is structured to make it convenient for

families to break away from their busy schedules. The entire family can attend together, be

served dinner and home to bed before 8:00 pm. If you are interested in receiving the monthly

invite to Embrace Families, send us a message at [email protected] or call 586-5773.

Adoption Celebration

to be held in November

For the past 18 years, an annual adoption celebration has been held at the Capital

building in Helena, MT during the month of November which is National Adoption

Awareness month. The adoption celebration consists of families finalizing their adoptions

in the old Supreme Court chamber followed by a reception in the Rotunda. Last year,

Bozeman held its first ever local Celebrate Adoption event and we plan to do so again.

The MT Department of Health and Human Services, FACES, Lutheran Social Services and

The Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach will be hosting this event (time and location to be

announced). The honorable Judge John Brown will once again be presiding over the

adoption finalizations and re-adoptions. A chili lunch donated by Wendy’s will be served.

All are welcome!

Adoption Finalization

15

Cevin and Stacy Imus of Gillette, Wyoming finalized their adoption of Rex and Rico on

July 28, 2015, exactly one year after bringing them home from the Philippines. Rex and

Rico were baptized on that same day in the family’s swimming pool. Stacy described it as

an incredible day. Congratulations to the Imus family!

The Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach

7104 Bristol Lane

Bozeman, MT 59715

(406) 586-5773

SPCO

Board of

Directors

Inside This Issue:

ERICA

ART AUCTION

HAGUE

RE-ACCREDITATION

ICAB VISIT

FALL OF HOPE

REHOBOTH UPDATE

RETURN OF AN ARTIST

SUPPORT SERVICES

FOR FAMILIES

ADOPTION

FINALIZATIONS

NOVEMBER ADOPTION

CELEBRATION

Our Mission:

“Creating Better Environments and Brighter

Futures for Children Without Families”

NONPROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

BOZEMAN MT

PERMIT NO. 160

Craig Druckenmiller,Tim Hart, Steve Van Dyken,

Jeanine Allen, Jan Druckenmiller